Page 29 of The Trouble with True Love

He gave a laugh, a harsh and jaded one that made her wince. “Why do I have the feeling that fondness for me is not what has inspired this visit? Perhaps the fact that the last time you called upon me, Papa cut off my income!”

“I am so very sorry about that. I knew he’d be angry if he found out I’d been to see you, but I never dreamt he’d cut you off. Although, upon reflection, I suppose I should have known he’d be capable of it. It’s just the bitter, vindictive sort of thing he would do. He’s—”

“Don’t!” he said fiercely. “Don’t. And spare me any pretense that maternal affection has brought you here. If you had any consideration of that sort, you’d have stayed well away.”

“As I said, I really didn’t have a choice—” She broke off at his warning look and gave a sigh. “Oh, Rex, I do love you, whether you believe me or not.”

The nauseating thing was that he did believe her. Worse, despite that she sponged off him at every possible opportunity, he loved her, too. And that made him all kinds of a fool. “However pressing your need to contact me, I don’t suppose you could have sent a servant in your place?”

“No.” She looked down, pretending a sudden vast interest in the state of her gloves. “I’m afraid not. I didn’t bring any servants with me.”

He frowned. “Not even a maid?”

“I’m only staying two days, so it hardly seemed necessary.” She left off studying her gloves and looked up. “I’m at a hotel.”

That bit of news did not surprise him. After the separation, she had taken to spending most of her time in Paris, and there, she had plenty of friends whose hospitality she could take advantage of. Here in London, however, it was a different matter. The French adored having scandalous friends, the English not so much.

Her lack of a maid, on the other hand, was rather a surprise, but he wasn’t curious enough to inquire further on the subject. “What do you want, Mama?”

She smiled, causing Rex to suck in a sharp breath, for his mother’s smile was strikingly similar to his own, and the sight of it never failed to inspire in him a rather sick feeling of dismay. No one he knew was more charming, more beguiling, or more willing to exploit her good looks than his mother, and he sometimes feared that a similarity of appearance was not the only trait he had inherited from her. “The usual thing, I’m afraid,” she said.

“Already?” Given his mother’s knack for heedless spending, he should not have been surprised, and yet, he was. “God, Mama, I gave you seven hundred pounds less than a month ago. That’s not gone already, surely? What have you spent it on?”

She waved a hand vaguely in the air. “Well, darling, everything is just so expensive nowadays. Clothes, you know, and cosmetics, and entertainments...” Her voice trailed off, her blue eyes widening with kitten-like innocence. “I don’t know where it goes, honestly. But it does vanish at an unaccountable rate.”

“Doesn’t it, though?” he said, pasting on an air of careless amiability he did not feel in the least. “It does that to me, too, especially when you come calling. Unfortunately, the last time you were here, you not only took all my golden eggs, you managed to kill the proverbial goose. As a result, I haven’t a shilling to give you.”

“I thought... that is, I heard...” There was a delicate pause. “I heard you were in funds again, despite your father.”

“Ah, so word of Auntie’s generosity reached you in Paris, did it? And you’ve come, hoping for a bit more of the swag? Yes,” he went on before she could reply, “Auntie was kind enough to give me an allowance until I can manage to restore myself to Papa’s good graces, but I’m rather on the out with her at present.”

Her skin paled at this bit of news, making the rouge on her cheeks seem more obvious. “You can’t raise a... a loan?”

Rex frowned at the faintness of her voice. She sounded more than dismayed. She sounded... afraid. It was an act, of course, and yet, even as he told himself that, he felt a hint of alarm. Showing it, though, would only encourage her to continue playing on his sympathy. “No, Mama, I can’t. You’ll have to look elsewhere.”

She swayed on her feet.

Despite his certainty that he was being manipulated, Rex moved at once, closing the distance between them and catching her arm to keep her from falling. “Steady on, Mama,” he said and led her to the nearest settee. “Sit down.”

She complied, and he sank down beside her. “What is it?” he asked sharply. “What are you not telling me?”

“It doesn’t matter, unless you have money.”

“It does matter if you ever wish me to give you any money in future. You must be honest with me about why you’ve such a pressing need.”

“Very well.” She sighed and looked at him unhappily. “I haven’t been spending what you’ve been giving me for living expenses or clothes or anything like that.”

“Then where’s it going?”

She stirred on the settee. “You know I had a... umm... a spot of bother a few years ago?”

He wasn’t about to let her get by with euphemisms. “Gambling debts, you mean.”

A frown marred her perfect forehead. “Really, Rex, must you be so tactless as to remind me of my past mistakes?”

Unimpressed, he folded his arms, propped his back against the arm of the settee, and prepared himself for what he was certain was coming. “So, you’re gambling again. That’s where the money’s going?”

“No, no!” she cried. “That’s not it at all.”

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